Ring traveler



E. G. PETERSON 2,268,773

RING TRAVELER Original Filed July 19, 1935 v V IN V EN TOR. I I Zarw Q pati /4'04 ATTORNEYS. v

Patented Jan. 6, 1942 RING TRAVELER Eric. G. Peterson, Riverside, R... I-.,. assignor to. Victor Ring Traveler Company,,a corporation of Rhode Island Original application July '19, 1935, Serial No.

Divided and this application August 3,

1937, Serial No. 157,091. Renewed May 26, 1939 8 Claims.

Thisapplication is a division of my application for Ring traveler, Serial No. 32,266, filed July 19, 1935.

The invention has for one of its objects the shaping of the wire which forms the traveler such that there will be provided a longer wearing life for the traveler.

Another object of the invention is to providea I traveler which by reason of the shape of its wire will have less friction and provide a cooler running traveler and one Which may be thicker and thus wear longer than those heretofore provided.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a traveler which will minimize breakage caused by a progressive fracture or sometimes called fatigue by stiffening and strengthening the bends.

Another object of the invention is to lessen through rearrangement and without heating the strains of tension and compression in the stock of the traveler about the bends which sometimes cause a progressive fracture to occur.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a traveler of an enlarged size after it has been taken from the forming tool;

Figs. 2 to 8, inclusive, show this traveler after being deformed in different portions along the length of the wire each one being a modification with reference to the other;

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of a length of wire from which the traveler is formed.

After a traveler has been formed up by a bending of the wire, one of the conventional forms of relieving strain in the traveler is to apply a low temperature heat treatment, which treatment serves to relieve to some extent the strains of tension and compression. However, instead of this heat treatment, I relieve the strains of tension and compression by deforming the stock of the Wire whereby the strains are substantially eliminated in the finished traveler; and the following is a more detailed description of the present steps in the operation of the formation of my traveler by which I attain the desired results:

In the formation of travelers, the same are frequently made from a piece of round wire stock which has been flattened by pressure on of an oblong cross-section, as shown in Figure 9, with flat surfaces 20. The wire of this crosssection is bent in a cold condition about a formingtool with the flat surfaces parallel to the axes of the arcs of bending to provide a shaping of the wire which will fit about the opposite edges of the ring and provide a space to allow yarn to pass through the traveler for the proper control thereof.

The bends which are necessary in the wire form curvatures which are rather sharp and causethe metal or wire to be placed under tension strains at the outside or periphery of the bends, as designated at I0 and H in Figure 1, where the metal is stretched or tended to be pulled apart, while there are compression strains at l2 and I3 in Figure l on the inner or underside of the bend where the metal has been compressed or crimped due to bending. The bends of this sort which cause the metal to be placed under these strains of tension and compression also affect the hardness, for instance according.

to the Rockwell standard of hardness, whereas the shank originally has a hardness of 82 along the central or neutral axis, and 83 on the outer surface or edge as designated by these corresponding numerals in Figure 1, it will be found that along the bend at the neutral axis the hardness will be 83, 83.5, 86 and 85.5 at the corresponding locations which the lead lines of these numbers designate in Figure 1, while on the outer surface the hardness will be found to be 90 and on the inner surface 91 at the point of greatest curvature, whereas at the tips of the wire it will be 86, as indicated. The bending of the wire around the former causes the metal to be placed under additional tension and compression strains in the bends, materially increasing the surface hardness of the bends although only slightly affecting the central or neutral axis.

j If the traveler is left as bent with the strains of tension and compression in the metal, although the traveler as a whole is'capable of withstanding the forces under which it is put, it will be found that where the traveler is subjected to strains or stresses in opposite directions or in different directions that the material will after a time fatigue, that is, small cracks will start in the surface, and as'the vibrations and alternate opposite strains occur such as may occur in the traveler due to rough rings, uneven tension from knots in the yarn or the like, that these small cracks will penetrate deeper and deeper through the stock of the wire until finally there remains diametrically opposite points forming somewhat 55 an insufficient cross-section of the Wire to withstand the strain to which the traveler is subjected, whereupon the traveler breaks. The characteristic of the line of break is such that there is usually a smooth portion of the crosssectional area where the crack has been penetrating gradually into the wire and which has become worn smooth by reason of the relative movement of the parts to break off the roughness of the grain structure of the metal, and finally when there remains insufiicient cross-sec tional area to support the forces existing, a clean break will occur in which the break area is rough and unpolished. This is usually known as'fa tigue, and a break of this character has been found to occur more largely where alterations of stresses and strains of compression and tension exist.

In order that the strains of compression and tension in the wire may be relieved or rearranged to a large extent I have deformed the wire by a striking, rolling or hammering operation to flatten portions of it such as shown at l5 and 16 in Figure 2 at the curved portions thereof, which flattening serves to rearrange the strains of tension and compression so that the alternating or vibrating strains such as occur in operation on poor, rough rings or due to dry spots or the like or uneven tension will not cause the traveler to fail or have a progressive break as quickly as would occur if the strains were not so rearranged.

The deformity or flattening which I provide is in a direction parallel to the axis about which bending occurs and serves to thicken the stock of the traveler or increase its dimension at right angles to a tangent to the surface of the ring against which it Wears to such an extent that the thickness is often greater in the area of Wear than the original thickness of the traveler so that although there is a reduced amount of surface area for contacting with the ring with respect to the usual construction, its depth is greater and its wearing life is longer both by reason of the action of the thread and the ring, and further, by reason of this flattening or thinning out of the traveler in this dimension a greater wind area is provided effecting faster heat dissipation resulting in a cooler and longer wearing life of the traveler than would otherwise occur which is highly desirable.

While I have shown in Figure 2 a flattening occurring at the opposite ends of the top and bottom of a traveler of a vertical type, this fiattening may occur only at the top as shown at IS in Figure 3, or it may occur at the top and along the shank as shown at 15 and I! in Figure 4, or merely at the bottom as shown at IS in Figure 5, or along the shank only as shown at I! in Figure 6, or along the shank and bottom as shown at l1, H5 in Figure '7, or it may occur along the entire length of the wire as shown at [5, IT, IS in Figure 8. Thus, the strains caused by fiat rolling of the wire and the additional strains put in by bending are relieved and rearranged. This change also affects all of the physical properties of the metal, there being a change of tensile strength, wear resistance, etc.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at both ends of the shank and of a shape to extend about the edges of a ring for guiding yarn within said curvatures, a portion of the wire having greater thickness than width in the plane of its curvatures.

2. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at both ends of the shank and adapted to extend about the edges of a ring for guiding yarn within said curvatures, a portion of the wire having greater thickness than width at said curvatures when taken in the plane of its curvatures.

3. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at the ends of the shank adapted to extend about the edges of a ring for guiding yarn within said curvatures, portions of the wire along said curvatures having substantially flat surfaces, being of a thickness greater than their width in the plane of its curvatures.

4. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at the ends of the shank adapted to extend about the edges of a ring, portions of the wire along said curvatures and the plane of its curvatures being of a thickness greater than their width, and said remaining portions having a thickness no greater than their width.

5. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at the ends of the shank adapted to extend about, the edges of a ring for guiding yarn within said curvatures, and a portion of the wire extending adjacent to one of said curved portions to the opposite end of the wire having a greater thickness in the plane of its curvatures than the remaining portions of the Wire.

6. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at the ends of the shank adapted to extend about the edges of a ring, said shank having a greater thickness in the plane of its curvatures than the thickness of the remaining portions of the wire.

'7. A traveler comprising a shank of wire with curvatures at the ends of the shank adapted to extend about the edges of a ring, one of said curved portions having greater thickness in the plane ofits curvaturesthan the remaining portions of the wire.

8. A traveler comprising a substantially straight shank of wire provided with curvatures at the ends thereof arranged to extend about the edges of a ring for guiding yarn within said curvatures, said wire having a greater dimension in a plane of its curvatures than in a plane at right angles thereto.

ERIC G. PETERSON. 

